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JanForster Inner circle Germany ... when not traveling... 4167 Posts 
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Hmm, Ustaad, just read the routine...the presentation is completely different, but the system exactly the same, various options for the stack, Gilbreath, one riffle shuffle, 6 pairs, 3 quartets, 1 additional pair, two times 13 cards. And it doesn't mater who is dealing the cards. So, I do not agree at all. But that's nothing against Martyn as special in card magic it is easily possible that different people invent same or similar handlings with different presentation without knowing about each other. We had this discussion before in this context concerning Lennart Green. Jan
Jan Forster
www.janforster.de |
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Ustaad Inner circle Iindia - States 6025 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-06-15 08:48, JanForster wrote: Yes Jan that is exactly what I wanted to bring out - i.e. UTA has a completely different presentation. And, as I believe, it's THEE presentation that completely changes ones thinking and belief in an effect/ routine. 
MAGIC is a SECRET, without the SECRET there is no MAGIC.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke. |
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JanForster Inner circle Germany ... when not traveling... 4167 Posts
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Yes, that's it!
 Jan
Jan Forster
www.janforster.de |
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Ustaad Inner circle Iindia - States 6025 Posts
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Thank you Jan.
. . . and I never perform the effect based on set sequence of events i.e. of 6 pairs, 3 quartets, etc. I keep changing the sequence of events. I am happy to be here discussing with such great minds. Thank you. Best regards.
MAGIC is a SECRET, without the SECRET there is no MAGIC.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke. |
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captainsmiffy Special user UK, resident UAE 589 Posts
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Thanks, guys! I totally agree with the both of you that the presentation makes/breaks the routine. As written, the probability pack feels quite contrived and requires the performers handling. His setup requires the mirroring, too. So not really the same system in my book; Up The Ante has removed some of the inherent problems from Mr Neale's handling, albeit without a knowledge of there having been a problem in the first place! We have clearly thought along the same lines but I believe that UTAs setup to be the more sophisticated of the two and allows total audience freedom with the deck. You could not do this with the probability deck.
So three of us have now been thinking down the same road.....!!!!! aaargghhh! Many thanks, Ustaad, for your e-mail. Regards Martyn
Have you tried 'Up The Ante' yet?? The ultimate gambling demo....a self-working wonder! See the reviews here on the cafe.
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JanForster Inner circle Germany ... when not traveling... 4167 Posts
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One of the advantages of UTA is indeed that you've not to start with a mirror stack. You even can do it with a Si Stebbins stack what I do. Therefore look up again Reinhard Mueller's idea how to create a mirror stack while presenting a trick. I do it always this way selling it as a little warm up for myself. Jan
Jan Forster
www.janforster.de |
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captainsmiffy Special user UK, resident UAE 589 Posts
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In the Probability Deck the magician - the magician, note - performs a charlier shuffle and casually 'corrects' this with a spread/cut. He then divides the deck, at which point the spectator may take over and shuffle the deck.
In Up The Ante the magician uncases the deck and hands it to the spectator. The spectator cuts the deck, splits it into the ratios that he wants and he then performs as sloppy a shuffle as he desires/is able! Methodology is similar - not identical - the results are identical but the effects leave very different impressions in an audiences psyche. As Ustaad noted, it is the complete openness in Up The Ante that gives it an air of rising impossibility. "If the magician never handled the cards and I shuffled then how the hell....?!!"
Have you tried 'Up The Ante' yet?? The ultimate gambling demo....a self-working wonder! See the reviews here on the cafe.
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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts
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This thread is a treat for those of us who embraced Up the Ante.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, please approach UTA as a routine with high-value opportunities for raising the bar when it comes to storytelling, audience management and conveying a sense that what is happening defies all rational apprehension. Reality bends! Up the Ante is a routine, not a one-dimensional trick. You can “jazz-magic” your presentation based on the audience and the environment. This has been, for me, a treasure trove purchased at a scandalously low price. I can go on, but fear this may sound like I am a shill. Up the Ante is a genius-level effect that you can personalize into a sensational routine appealing equally to degenerate gamblers and star-crossed lovers. Yes, yes, yes – it is that good.
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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Thetruthteller New user 93 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-06-14 06:11, captainsmiffy wrote: I have a friend who reviews for one of the magic journals and I asked him about this. He told me that he never contacts the creator of an effect before writing a review. The effect must stand on its own merits. Communicating with the creator might influence his inital opinion of the work. He even gave up reading reviews in the magazines so as not to form a bias (pro or con) in case he is asked to write a review of the same product. He only writes reviews for material that has been submitted to the magazine so he assumes that the creator is aware that it will recieve a review. He is confident that Mr. Lelekis operates under the same guidelines as well and recieved your manuscript from a vendor. |
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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-06-16 16:33, Thetruthteller wrote: The only difference - and a crucial one - is that MOST reviewers actually read and TRY the effect. Just saying 
Ahimsa, Vlad |
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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts
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Hi All,
I just returned from another social get-together (an anniversary) and performed Up the Ante using my married couple routine. They were elderly, sweet as a summer’s day. 60 years married and you could see that they are the rays of sunlight in each other’s lives. I played to their long marriage, spoke about the passage of time and the eternal timelessness of love….it was 20% scripted; 80% jazz, impromptu, free-flowing. I took the opportunity to play up the final reveal. As the final 26 cards were dealt onto a table for all to see (with a bit of verbal direction, they can be placed by two participants so they run sequentially from the Deuce to the Ace), the emotional resonance in the room went up several degrees. I spontaneously asked the wife and husband in turn to recall a moment from their lives together that held a special place in their heart. A memory, two cards placed on the table, a match…13 times…it was a delight, a barometer of their love. The incredible magic seemed to tease out their personal biographies…as if the secret book of their lives was opened for us to see… By the time the matching Aces were revealed (I asked them to keep the last two cards in their hands and slowly turn them to face the guests whilst thinking of their 60 years of love), the couple was crying, along with every single guest in the room. They kissed, we all cheered and the magic was all about them. I would have paid a lot of money for a magical routine so powerful and adaptable to the situation that it could elicit real, genuine tears. I didn’t – I paid a relatively small amount of money for something that just today played bigger than any routine I have ever performed. My friends – if you value the opportunity to create great stories, Up the Ante is your best, secret weapon. It will make you pay attention to the participant(s) and the wider audience with a mental acuity that few “tricks” require. As a result, your magic will become stronger. And guess what? I have a week end gig for a coterie of cigar-smoking Poker playing buddies. I am already formulating this story: “As a card mechanic, I have seen many strange things in my time, but none so inexplicable as ‘this thing’ an old sharp showed me in a Las Vegas casino hotel room way, way north of the glittering strip. I lost a lot of money that night and paid a small fortune more to learn the secret of doing something that defies every law of nature. It took me 4 years to master; 5 hours a night, studying things called optical shuffle tracking, and how blinking our eyes affects the cognitive infrastructure of what we see and therefore, what we do; and a bunch of other really weird and esoteric stuff. I almost lost my job; my wife almost divorced me. But I finally cracked the secret. And here…right now…is what the old card sharp showed me…” Up the Ante is magic because it creates the opportunity for you to make the magic fit the mood. It makes you as the performer feel as engaged and stunned as the people who see it performed. I have given a taste of two routines/scripts. I have developed a half dozen more –and again, all have multi-dimensional variations that are entirely spontaneous, sparked by the real-life situation at that moment in time. People start talking, laughing, joking, and opening up about their lives… ...and it all comes out of a regular deck of playing cards. No gimmicks, no bad angles, nothing but the power of making real magic emerge from real people. What an amazing routine.
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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Ustaad Inner circle Iindia - States 6025 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-06-18 15:26, panlives wrote: Beautifully presented -  Story Of Their Love
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful presentation story/ routine.
MAGIC is a SECRET, without the SECRET there is no MAGIC.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke. |
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captainsmiffy Special user UK, resident UAE 589 Posts
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Hi Panlives, great to see somebody putting out their own take on Up The Ante; the routine is clearly ripe for individual creatism and I thank you for pushing that aspect of it to the fore. I don't suppose that you have ever been filmed performing it, have you? Would love to see this in action.
Have you tried 'Up The Ante' yet?? The ultimate gambling demo....a self-working wonder! See the reviews here on the cafe.
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edh Inner circle 4698 Posts
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Hey Capt'n. I really enjoy the " up the ante" thanks for this.
Magic is a vanishing art.
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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts
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Hi All,
My performance for the Poker room was interesting – a solid success, based on “WTF” reactions and other profane expressions of incredulity. In response to a query – no, the plots I outlined in previous posts are not complete scripts. They are rough sketches that do rely on the performer having some facility with impromptu verbal skills. For example, something I left out in my description was how I framed the triplicate reveal of 4 packets in a row, each containing all four suits. For the occasion described above, it was natural to speak of the four suits symbolizing the four seasons and by extension, the four seasons of our lives: the unabashed exuberance of Spring; the verdant fulsomeness of Summer; the melancholy of Autumn and the difficult times we have to endure – the Winters of our discontents. On the third reveal, I end with the promise of a new Spring so as to complete the circle of life on a positive note. This approach, by the way, also allows the performer to speak about how a deck of cards has its roots in the misty, unrecorded past of the Far East and Central Europe.; how the deck, to this day, is a metaphor for life: 52 cards representing the number of weeks in a year, the four suits (as mentioned) are the four seasons; two colors (red and black)- matching the two halves of the year (summer solstice and winter equinox); all of the spots on the cards in the deck totaling 365, the number of days in a year. But it is important for me to emphasize that the magic plays big on its own merits, as the performer never has to touch the cards once they are introduced to the table. The magic is all done by the participant(s) in ways that clearly contradict all common sense and natural laws. You can have a terrific amount of wicked fun presenting Up the Ante as a study in statistical probability. In fact, I have – to a group of student engineers. Performed “straight up” or gilded with a routine/story of your choosing, Up the Ante is a pedal-to-the-metal winner.
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts
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May I add that because Up the Ante has such powerful intrinsic story-telling and narrative possibilities, I suspect Vlad’s Tarot routine will be a sought-after gem for magic and magick practitioners!
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-06-19 03:53, captainsmiffy wrote: Hi Captain, The 60th wedding anniversary performance was recorded by a few guests using phones and other mobile devices – however, the footage is sub-standard as the performance was never meant to be staged for sound, lighting, multiple camera angles and editing. Having said that, it may end up on YouTube one of these days
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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captainsmiffy Special user UK, resident UAE 589 Posts
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Panlives...your enthusiasm is unbounded! Great to see! And I think that you are right in that Vlads Tarot idea sounds awesome. Can't wait to see it! Do let me know if you do get your take of it on to youtube, too. I can just picture the 'WTF' moment, too, at the poker room that you mentioned! I have seen many, many of these whilst working Up The Ante!
Have you tried 'Up The Ante' yet?? The ultimate gambling demo....a self-working wonder! See the reviews here on the cafe.
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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts
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Martyn and Panlives,
I am working out a method now for the Tarot routine. I will PM the "business" to both of you once I am satisfied with the working and the scripting. Martyn, obviously, this is YOUR routine, so, if you like the Tarot presentation and wish to include it in a future manuscript, by all means do so! You have given us a KILLER effect and if my routine is satisfactory to you, then I shall be honoured
This is going to take a bit of working though, because I have a specific approach in mind that is vexing me at the moment. So, stay tuned
Ahimsa, Vlad |
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Ustaad Inner circle Iindia - States 6025 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-06-21 13:02, Vlad_77 wrote: And ME  
No! 
Nevermind. 
MAGIC is a SECRET, without the SECRET there is no MAGIC.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke. |
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Posted: Jun 15, 2010 12:48 pm 
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